Bush boasts about not attacking Kasich, attacks Kasich

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jeb Bush wanted it noted that he hadn't attacked John Kasich in his stump speeches, saying he was keeping his focus on Donald Trump.

But it didn't take much prompting to get him to make a few jabs at Kasich.

“Gov. Kasich led the charge in Ohio to expand Medicaid,” Bush said after reporters him about comments Kasich and Marco Rubio had made about him. “He can defend that all he wants, but that’s a difference. And I think here in South Carolina people are looking for a conservative candidate.”

It's all part of a complicated two-step for the former Florida governor. Leaders of the party establishment are pushing him, and as well as Kasich and Sen. Marco Rubio, to attack outsider candidates such as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. But the candidates themselves can ill-afford to cede ground to their establishment rivals, with all three fighting to carry the faction's mantle.

“If you’ve traveled with me today, I’ve had three speeches. Kasich’s name wasn’t mentioned once,” Bush said after a rally at the University of South Carolina. “He’s been a good governor, but my record as a conservative reformer far exceeds his. That’s not attacking. That’s not negative. That’s what you call comparing and contrasting.”

He also knocked Rubio after being told the Florida senator had said earlier Thursday that Bush lacks foreign policy experience.

“He goes to committees and passes amendments,” Bush responded, referring to Rubio’s spot on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I’m pretty fluent on the issues of foreign policy, and Marco can say that he has a record, but what would it be? That he goes to committee hearings and talks to people? That’s fine; that’s the job of a senator. But what is the record of accomplishment?”

He attacked Trump without prompting, saying in his stump speech that the billionaire was guilty of "pushing people down" to make himself look better, saying such things made Trump an unfit leader.

Bush also defended his decision to have his brother, former President George W. Bush, campaign with him on Monday ahead of the South Carolina primary.

“He’s the last Republican that was president,” Bush said. “He is the most popular Republican alive. He is my brother. He has made tough decisions as president. All of that is, I think, important for people to be reminded of, and for him to come to this warms my heart.”